Although the boy is not in the story all that much, I still believe that he plays a significant role in it. The young boy is the old man's real source of hope all the way through the book, from beginning to end. The old man's life would have been totally different if he had not had the boy as his friend. Manolin's high amount of confidence and hope for the old man gives him the strength to do what he does.
The book starts off very dark and dreary feeling before the old man starts talking with the boy. As the old man begins to converse with the Manolin, we begin to feel the tone light up a little. The boy helps the old man even before they set out fishing. The book even states "His hope and his confidence had never gone. But now they were freshening as when the breeze rises." (Hemingway 13). The boy's optimism rubs off on the old man and the next morning he sets out fishing with confidence in himself and nature (Hemingway 18).
At another point in the book, the fish is jumping out of the water and the line begins to cut Santiago's hands apart. Then old man then decides that if the boy were there with him, he would help. Afterwords, he finds that his hands were not really hurt so bad and that it was good that the fish jumped out of the water (Hemingway 42). I feel like just the thought of Manolin made the old man happier and his confidence then grew higher.
My last example occurs when the old man finally arrives back to shore at home. At first, he says that "they beat me," but in the end, the old man has made plans to go out fishing with the boy the next day (Hemingway 58-59). The confidence in the boy gives the old man confidence in himself. I find that this is the best kind of friendship that two people can have. If you are able to build off each other, you can accomplish a lot more than if you were working alone.
Hemingway, E. The Old Man and The Sea. New York, NY: Scribner, 1980
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